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Container liners expected to shift focus more on ultralarge boxships: Alphaliner

STATISTICS from Alphaliner show that at the end of September there were 316 ultralarge ships of 10,000 TEU and above with a total capacity of 4.2 million TEU, accounting for 6.1 per cent of the worldwide container fleet in the number of ships and 21.6 per cent in vessel capacity.

At the same time, there were also 209 newly ordered ultralarge ships with a minimum capacity of 10,000 TEU each totalling 3.1 million TEU. The vessels accounted for 42.1 per cent in the number of ships and 74 per cent in vessel capacity of the world's newly ordered vessels.

The fact that the capacity for ultralarge ships that are at least 10,000 TEU takes up 21.6 per cent of the total global vessel capacity while the newly ordered such ships take up 74 per cent of the total worldwide orders, shows that the global container ship market is taking a turn toward a predominant fleet of ultralarge ships. Major trade routes will see a pronounced increase in ultralarge vessels

Alphaliner forecast that the capacity for ultralarge vessels which are minimum 10,000 TEU would be 3.3 million TEU (33 per cent up) in 2014, 4.4 million TEU (29.7 per cent up) in 2015, 5.3 million TEU (19.6 per cent up) in 2016, and 6.3 million TEU (19.1 percent up) in 2017.

Meantime, it forecast that the global container vessel fleet would register an increase of 6.3 per cent in 2014, 9.1 percent in 2015, 5.4 per cent in 2016, and 4.6 per cent in 2017, thus projecting a very steep rise in ultralarge vessels that are minimum 10,000 TEU.

As the information provider forecast that those ultralarge vessels that are minimum 18,000 TEU would increase by 276.7 per cent in 2014, 137.5 per cent in 2015, 38.2 per cent in 2016, and 55.6 per cent in 2017, we expect a greatly increased supply to major trade lane where ultralarge vessels flock.

As of September 2015, there were 31 ultralarge vessels that were 18,000 TEU and above and 72 ultralarge ships were newly ordered, thus totalling over 100 ships in combination. It is expected that 35 vessels will be delivered in 2015, 13 ships in 2016, 25 ships in 2017, and 30 ships in 2018 and beyond.

On the other hand, the capacity for vessels that are 12,000 TEU and above will climax at 810,000 TEU in 2015 and then will register 500,000 TEU in 2016 and 600,000 TEU in 2017.

The average size of delivered vessels will be 16,542 TEU in 2015, 16,181 TEU in 2016, and 18,171 TEU in 2017, which suggests that the average size will continue to increase for newly constructed vessels to be deployed on major routes.